Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q

Lowdown

Chicken & Ribs

What’s better than ribs that are fall off the bone tender?  It’s that touch of gentle resistance of the charred bark as you bite down to find tender, succulent meat beneath.  Smoky & tender with [...]]]>

Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q

Lowdown

Chicken & Ribs

What’s better than ribs that are fall off the bone tender?  It’s that touch of gentle resistance of the charred bark as you bite down to find tender, succulent meat beneath.  Smoky & tender with a rub that has a touch of spice and sweetness, it doesn’t get better than this.  Wait a minute.  Actually, it does.  There’s still that moist, tender chicken infused with smoky goodness to eat.

Jalapeno Cornbread & Collard Greens

Chicken, White BBQ Sauce, Fried Okra & Collard Greens

Spice rubbed smoky skin reveals tender, juicy meat.  More of those spicy collards, we just can’t get enough of them.  Dotted with smoky meat, a meal at Fox Bros. wouldn’t be complete without a bowl of these delicious bitter greens.

Don’t forget the fried okra!

Fresh okra is cut in half and dredged in a peppery cornmeal batter.  Then, it’s fried to crispy golden brown perfection.

Love it.

Allagash White

So Good.

Four years & kickin’…

We think they’re better than ever.  Even with the crowd, every little piece of our meal contributed to the barbecue perfection that is Fox Bros BBQ.

Fox Bros. BBQ
1238 Dekalb Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30307
404 577 4030

Enter Through The Front Porch

A Peek In The Window

The Front Room With A View Of One Giant Oak

Ribs & Fries

With A Huge Side of Mac & Cheese

Beef Rib, Brunswick Stew & [...]]]>

Enter Through The Front Porch

A Peek In The Window

The Front Room With A View Of One Giant Oak

Ribs & Fries

With A Huge Side of Mac & Cheese

Beef Rib, Brunswick Stew & Garlic-y Green Beans

We arrived as the live music was setting up for the evening in the screened porch of this charming little house in Grayson.  Lavender and herbs fill the front yard, sounds of warm-up music spill out the door, and friendly faces greet you at the door.  Charm, it oozes here.  You’re guided to a wooden table in one of the little rooms.  Or, maybe you’d prefer a table on that screened porch?  This place truly is pretty as a picture.

But, then reality rears its ugly head.

We glance at the time and realize the drive was over 30 minutes to the east of 285.  And, that’s the second nail in the coffin that will prevent a return visit any time soon.  The first?  Sadly, that’s the food.  Still Waters offers home-style cookin’, but, not in a good way.  Both beef and pork ribs were well past their prime.  They were quite dry and chewy in that way that overcooked meat tends to be.  The sides were all tasty and perfectly “fine”.  The garlic-y green beans were by far the best dish of the night.  That’s not a sentence you hear every day, right?  Even so, nothing was a standout or particularly memorable.

Did you ever see the Dance 10, Looks 3 number in “A Chorus Line” on broadway?  This is a… Looks 10, Food 3.

We’d love to give them a second chance.  But, time and money are both precious things.

Still Waters
516 Grayson Parkway
Grayson, GA 30017
678 376 3001

Eggplant, Sausage & Bacon Pizza

Eggplant, sausage and bacon make for a killer combination on this thin (but, not too thin) crusted wood-fired pizza.  The touch of smoke provided by the wood-fired oven adds another built-in element of something special.  That sharp smoky bite complemented the tender, buttery [...]]]>

Eggplant, Sausage & Bacon Pizza

Eggplant, sausage and bacon make for a killer combination on this thin (but, not too thin) crusted wood-fired pizza.  The touch of smoke provided by the wood-fired oven adds another built-in element of something special.  That sharp smoky bite complemented the tender, buttery eggplant perfectly.

Shorty’s Pizza
3701 Lawrenceville Highway
Tucker, GA 30084
770 414 6999

In order of preference… No. 1 avocado, No. 2 picadillo, and a distant 3rd place goes to the shrimp creole.  Next time, we’ll get the avocado filling for all three.

Ending up here, somehow.  An unusual discovery was made.  Quite fitting, given the purpose of [...]]]>
Fried Yuca Cups with 3 fillings

In order of preference… No. 1 avocado, No. 2 picadillo, and a distant 3rd place goes to the shrimp creole.  Next time, we’ll get the avocado filling for all three.

Ending up here, somehow.  An unusual discovery was made.  Quite fitting, given the purpose of Paranormal Norcross’s website.  If you need paranormal consultation in Norcross, they’ve got you covered!  In any event, we’re glad for the discovery.  We were rewarded with a fabulous meal.

Glazed Salmon with mango salsa, yellow rice and tostones

This made a perfect summer dinner.  Perfectly grilled salmon with sweet and tangy mango salsa.  And, tostones… they might not be the prettiest thing in the world.  But, they sure are tasty.  I can predict we will be eating this again very, very soon.

Vaca Frita, Maduros, Black Beans & Rice

Fried Cow.  Yum.  This dish is a bit heavy for summer.  But, it’s one of our all-time favorite Cuban dishes when it’s done properly.  So, we had to give it a try.  Slow-cooked beef is shredded and pan fried with onions.  Finish that off with a drizzle of lime.  Then, serve with the mandatory maduros, black beans, and rice.  This might not be the best version we’ve tasted.  But, it was very nicely done.

Maduros

Now, this is the way properly cooked maduros should look.  Hello, out there… Atlanta Area Restaurants!  I’m talking to you!  Properly cooked maduros should be made with ripe (RIPE) plantains and fried to a deep dark caramel brown.  Is it really that hard?

Mango Pie with guava swirls

I hate to be redundant.  But, yum.  It’s sweet and a little tart with all of the added complexity that guava brings to the table.  It’s the perfect summer dessert.

And, they have live music on the weekends.  I think we’re really going to love this place.  Next time, we’ll be trying the guava cheesecake.  That’s even more motivation to return…soon.

Mojitos Cuban American Bistro
35 South Peachtree Street Northwest
Norcross, GA 30071
770 441 2599

There’s a lot to love at The Swallow at the Hollow.  Set down a quiet side street with a gravel path leading to make-shift parking under the trees, we feel like we’re visiting friendly neighbors.  A mountain of chopped wood decorates the front [...]]]>
Ribs, Mac N Cheese, Brunswick Stew & Griddled Biscuit

There’s a lot to love at The Swallow at the Hollow.  Set down a quiet side street with a gravel path leading to make-shift parking under the trees, we feel like we’re visiting friendly neighbors.  A mountain of chopped wood decorates the front of the cabin and a row of garden boxes invite you in.  The porch is calling our name.  Without a doubt, it’s the most adorable BBQ restaurant in the city.  And, the staff is so welcoming you feel like family before you sit down.  We’ve visited Swallow at the Hollow more than a few times and the staff is always super friendly.

The food oozes equal charm.  Perfect biscuits are griddled with butter, giving each biscuit half just the right amount of butter.  Only a drizzle of honey is needed over each warm half, and I’m in biscuit heaven.  Macaroni and cheese is super smooth and creamy… homey in a very, very good way.  And, tangy Brunswick stew wakes up your taste buds.  Then, gargantuan slabs of baby back ribs taunt you.  You’ll never finish.  You won’t even come close.  (I was starving and only managed 2 small ribs off the end.  There were leftovers for days.)  Both of our racks of ribs dangled over each side of the plates.  They aren’t kidding when they say a “full” rack of ribs.

Ribs, Mac N Cheese, Potato Salad & Cabin Bread

Mmm… cabin bread.  Freshly baked and lightly griddled with a teeny tiny bit of butter, it’s really yummy.  Yeah, there were more than a few carbs consumed at this meal.  And, we’ll do it again.  The biscuits and cabin bread are worth every calorie.  The ribs are were moist, tasty and melt-in-your-mouth tender.  We disagree slightly on the bbq sauce.  One of us doesn’t love it.  (It’s a bit too vinegary and tomato-y.  It needs some more spice.)  The other thinks it’s “pretty good”.  We both like the mustard sauce for the pork and turkey.

Hmm… where did these come from?

Corn muffins straight out of the oven, courtesy of that superb staff, maybe?  Perfect with butter and honey, we LOVE them!  These muffins define southern style cornbread… err muffins.

We’re not huge country music fans.  (Or, to be completely honest, we’re not country music fans at all.)  So, we’ve never seen a show.  But, if you are a fan, you’re bound to like one of the top notch performers that visit this charming venue.  Check out their website for a list of upcoming performances.

The Swallow at the Hollow
1072 Green Street
Roswell, GA 30075
678 352 1975

Two crabcakes, each topped with a perfectly poached egg, sit next to a generous portion of home fries that have a lovely deep golden brown shell.  I love my home fries to be crisp on the outside and creamy in the middle.  So, these were perfect for me.  Fluffy [...]]]>
Chesapeake Crab Benedict

Two crabcakes, each topped with a perfectly poached egg, sit next to a generous portion of home fries that have a lovely deep golden brown shell.  I love my home fries to be crisp on the outside and creamy in the middle.  So, these were perfect for me.  Fluffy rolls were sliced, nicely toasted and wisely served on the side.  I think this is a great idea.  I’d rather have crispy toast on the side than a soggy limp muffin underneath.

Shrimp & Grits (There are two eggs… one is hidden under the other.)

The sauce might be showing a bit of separation in this picture.  But, the taste was incredible.  Using crawfish as a base to their sauce, the richness and depth will be something that all future shrimp & grits dishes will need to top.  The flavor was extremely memorable in the best possible way.  Normally, an overly decadent usage of butter might scare me away from a dish… not this time.  I was stealing bites of this left & right.  The shrimp were so perfectly cooked they nearly melted in our mouths.  In fact, they were so tender they reminded me of rock shrimp.

At least 7 or 8 shrimp were hidden in this dense sauce.

Does this look familiar?  Yes, the Shrimp & Grits were so addictive we came back the next day.  We both ordered our own… no sharing.  Interestingly, the sauce was a bit different on the second visit.  While it was very good in its own right, the flavor wasn’t quite as rich and intense as the day before.  This sauce was smoother and more polished with a distinctive freshness from sweet red and green peppers.  But, we both missed the decadent butteriness and intense crawfish flavor from the day before.  The crawfish flavor was still present.  It was simply more subdued and subtle.

We’ll be back… without a doubt.

The Depeaux
303 East Howard Avenue
Decatur, GA 30030
404 377 7234

]]> http://www.reviewatlanta.com/2010/02/02/the-depeaux-part-deux/feed/ 0 http://www.reviewatlanta.com/2010/02/01/gator-bites-the-depeaux/ http://www.reviewatlanta.com/2010/02/01/gator-bites-the-depeaux/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:15:10 +0000 michele http://www.reviewatlanta.com/?p=1345

Gator Bites

The Depeaux is dishing up these perfectly fried bites made of alligator tail meat.  As South Floridians at heart (and frequent visitors of New Orleans), we’ve sampled gator here and there.  It’s usually disappointing.  Sometimes it’s overcooked, sometimes it’s tastesless, and other times we find ourselves wondering… where’s [...]]]>

Gator Bites

The Depeaux is dishing up these perfectly fried bites made of alligator tail meat.  As South Floridians at heart (and frequent visitors of New Orleans), we’ve sampled gator here and there.  It’s usually disappointing.  Sometimes it’s overcooked, sometimes it’s tastesless, and other times we find ourselves wondering… where’s the gator?  Not here.  These tender pieces of gator were crispy golden on the outside & moist inside.  Taste-wise, the flavor was similar to that of a richly fried cutlet of tender pork… or maybe veal.  There is a hint of fish in flavor & texture, but, in a good way.  We really, really enjoyed this.

And, by the way, this is an appetizer.  It was beyond generous for two.   Three or four could easily share this as a starter.

With Mardi Gras right around the corner, this is going to be our go-to spot to grab a bite in Decatur.  The renovated train depot is charming and the staff is super friendly.  Love it!

Next Up:  The Depeaux — Part 2 — Two Days of Brunch

The Depeaux
303 East Howard Avenue
Decatur, GA 30030
404 377 7234

The Grammy Awards — January 31, 2010

For a list of the nominees:  Grammy.com

I really don’t have any favorites.

Avatar

Opens December 17, 2009

For those with kids, the pony rides will be the highlight of this unusual market.  The flea market has two sections.  One section (indoor) with new to newish goods.  Dollar store finds, clothing, jewelry, and other random items sold by those renting the indoor space.  The outdoor section is a collection of used garage [...]]]>

For those with kids, the pony rides will be the highlight of this unusual market.  The flea market has two sections.  One section (indoor) with new to newish goods.  Dollar store finds, clothing, jewelry, and other random items sold by those renting the indoor space.  The outdoor section is a collection of used garage sale items.  We saw everything from toilets to stereo speakers to a battered banjo.

The food court was wrapping it up for the day.  So, I can’t vouch for the food.  But, a Mexican band was drawing a crowd.  And, The Nutty Bavarian had a stand offering my favorite… candied cinnamon cashews.

Pendergrass Flea Market